1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical information recording, and, also, the present invention relates to optical information recording to be performed on an optical disk media, such as DVD-R (Digital Video or Versatile Disk, Recordable), a DVD-RW (ReWriteable), or the like, having compatibility in format with DVD media such as DVD, DVD-ROM of read-only type.
2. Description of the Related Art
A single pulse recording manner as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D using such a light-emission waveform of an LD (Laser Diode) which is a light source to be applied to an optical disk is used as a general record waveform for CD-R. According to the recording manner, a recording power level which may have two values, or modify a rear edge of a heating pulse for the shortest data length, and, thereby, attains mark edge (PWM) recording. Information is given to both edges of the record mark according to such a PWM recording manner.
However, when this single pulse recording manner as shown in FIG. 4C is used as a recording waveform in a large data recording on a DVD-R, etc., since a record mark may include a distortion into a shape like a tear due to heat storage, or the edge may shift according to a data length, remarkably, as shown in FIG. 4D. Thereby, it may be difficult to provide a non-problematic jitter characteristic according to the single pulse recording manner.
For this reason, a multi-pulse recording manner as shown in FIGS. 9C and 9D employing such a light-emission waveform from an LD which is a light source of the laser to be applied to an optical disk may be used. Thereby, the duty of the heating pulses is adjusted, and, as a result, a proper recording power can be applied such as to result in record marks as shown in FIG. 9D, in which the influence of heat storage may be easily eliminated, and edge shift at both edges of a record mark can be effectively reduced.
However, when performing data recording according to the above-described single pulse recording manner, it is possible to know the formation state of a mark during recording by detecting the luminous energy of light reflected by the optical disk as a light-receiving signal waveform shown in FIG. 4E for a single pulse interval.
Therefore, even when recording is made while the recording power changes, the signal which shows a change in luminous energy of reflected light can be obtained. Thereby, data record can be performed with controlling to correct deviation of the recording power occurring due to LD power fluctuation, tilt error, media sensitivity unevenness, etc., in accordance with the state of this change in the luminous energy thus detected. Such a control scheme is generally referred to as an R-OPC (Running-Optimum Power Control) scheme.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-13372 discloses a technique of feeding reflected light back to a laser, and determining whether or not recording is properly performed based on change along a time axis of the laser-light detection signal obtained simultaneously with the recording.
However, according to the multi-pulse recording scheme described above with reference to FIG. 9C suitable for a large data recording occasion, as shown in FIG. 9E, since the luminous energy of the reflected light decreases rapidly by the interception pulse before detecting change in luminous energy of the reflected light due to the recording power, then, the luminous energy of the reflected light increases rapidly by the heating pulse applied again, and, thus, the light-emission state of the LD changes by short time intervals, it may be difficult to detect luminous-energy change for a constant power required in order to determine the formation state of a mark, and, thus, it may be difficult to properly perform controlling the power by the R-OPC.
With spread of multimedia, media only for reading such as DVD, DVD-ROM, write-once-type media such as DVD-R employing a pigment material as a recording layer, rewriteable media such as DVD-RW employing a phase-change material have been developed.
The information (sectors, in this example) recorded on such DVD media has a format as shown in FIG. 10A. According to this format, as shown in FIG. 10A, data (sectors) is continuously recorded at a fixed line density on all the tracks of the medium.
In order to prepare an information recording medium having a format having a compatibility with media for only reading, information is recorded at a frequency of a fixed recording channel clock signal while controlling the rotation speed of the medium to be inverse proportion to the track radius using a CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) scheme as shown in FIG. 10B, and, thereby, the line velocity on the track is made fixed.
However, in order to control the rotation speed of disk by the CLV scheme, to always make the line velocity on the track constant, it is necessary to change the rotation speed of the disk appropriately. For this purpose, a spindle motor which rotationally drives the disk medium should provide a large torque so as to perform velocity shift, and thus should be of a large-sized, expensive type. Moreover, as a time is required for completing a predetermined velocity shift, an extra time may be taken for accessing the disk medium as compared with HDD, MO drive, etc., for this reason.
In order to avoid necessity of rotation speed shift in recording data onto a disk medium, a recording format such as that shown in FIG. 11A may be employed. That is, as shown in FIG. 1C, the frequency of a channel clock signal to be recorded onto the disk medium is controlled as being in proportion to the radius of the track such that the frequency becomes larger as the track radius increases. Thereby, since the recording line velocity is large at the perimeter zone but is small at the central zone, as shown in FIG. 1D, the recording line density can be made fixed. It is thus possible to perform information recording on the disk medium according to a CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) scheme in which the rotation speed of the disk medium is fixed as shown in FIG. 11B.
Thereby, according to this manner, it becomes not necessary to perform control of variable rotational speed of a spindle motor which rotationally drives the disk medium, and, thus, the spindle motor should not have a large torque, and, thus, may be a small, inexpensive one. Moreover, since no rotation speed change is needed, any extra time occurring due to the velocity change is needed, and, thus, it is possible to shorten the access time needed for seeking a desired track on the disk medium.
However, the pulse width and recording power of a recording pulse series by laser light-emission for recording are optimized with respect to a specific recording line velocity for a DVD-R medium employing a pigment-made recording layer, or a phase-change medium for which, generally, a pit (mark) is formed on the disk medium at a heat mode. Therefore, the state of the mark formed or space therebetween differ at a different recording line velocity. That is, when the pulse width or recording power differ, the heat energy required for formation of a mark may vary, and, the heating temperature which can be reached varies for every mark length with respect to the optimum deformation temperature differs, and, thereby, average mark length may vary, and optimum pulse width may vary. As a result, it becomes not possible to obtain a uniform mark length, and a width of a mark may changes according to a mark length. Thus, tapering of a mark may occur (so-called tear-like mark). Thereby, the jitter characteristic may become problematic.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-225570, in order to obtain the optimum recording luminous energy for every recordable zone of a disk medium for a short time, the optimum recording luminous energies at specific two recording line velocities are obtained at an equal recording line velocity for a trial writing zone for at least two positions, and, by performing inside or outside interpolation on the optimum recording luminous energies for two recording line velocities obtained by an interpolation routine, the optimum recording luminous energy for every recording line velocity can be obtained by performing interpolation processing on the thus-obtained optimum recording luminous energies.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-274678, in order to reduce the laser power required for recording without worsening the jitter characteristic, recording is performed while rotating the optical disk at a uniform rotational speed, in which the light beam which has undergone intensity modulation according to the information signal based on the reference clock signals which differ for particular zones is used. Thereby, information is recorded in a zone on the perimeter side on a frequency higher than a frequency on which information is recorded in a zone on the central side. In this method, the light beam is made to have periodical pulses at a frequency which is an integral multiple of the frequency of a reference clock signal for each zone, wherein the light beam is applied to the disk medium for a zone on the perimeter side by a duty ratio of pulse-wise light emission larger than that by which the light beam is applied to the disk medium for a zone on the central side.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-106008, in order to provide an optical disk apparatus which can perform information recording at a high velocity and with high reliability, an optical disk, an optical head, a synchronized signal generation means, a VCO, a phase comparison means, a controller, and a record signal generation means are provided, wherein recording can be performed on the best recording conditions by appropriately controlling the pulse height and pulse width of a recording signal according to a recording line velocity.
In these prior arts, the certain setting values of the recording pulses such as the duty ratio of pulse-wise light-emission are controlled according to a recording line velocity in the CAV scheme. Such a scheme is effective as long as a recording sensitivity distribution of the optical disk medium is uniform through the entire recording area of the disk, and an error of the recording power with respect to the setting value is kept constant through the entire recording area of the disk. However, for an actual disk medium, in particular, a DVD, it is difficult to perform recording uniformly through the entire recording area of the disk due to unevenness in recording sensitivity on the disk, power variation and/or wavelength variation of the LD (laser diode) due thereto.
That is, since a plurality of fluctuation factors mutually give influences on the characteristics of recorded information (RF signal), such as the jitter characteristic, it may not be possible to perform recording at a uniform signal characteristic throughout the recording area of the disk according to the above-described manners in the related art. As a result, it may not be possible to obtain the expected effects satisfactorily. Especially, in a case where the optical disk medium is concentrically divided into a plurality of recording zones, and control is made such as to interrupt and restart recording operation repeatedly across borders between different zones, so as to cope with difference in relationship between data transfer rate from a host apparatus and a data recording rate, it is difficult to perform recording at a uniform signal characteristic throughout the recording area of the disk medium.
An object of the present invention is to enable highly sensitive detection of the formation state of a mark when employing a multi-pulse series in pulse-wise light emission for recording.
Another object of the present invention is to enable acquisition of stable reproduction signal with small jitter.
Another object of the present invention is to calculate a heating power of a detection pulse easily from a recording power of a multi-pulse series of light emission, and detect the formation state of a mark with high sensitivity, in the above-mentioned case.
Another object of the present invention is to enable maintaining of the jitter characteristic non-problematic, by preventing the data of recorded information from being destroyed in the above-mentioned case.
Another objet of the present invention is to enable process any optical disk in a recording type different between one employing single pulse for each mark and the other employing the multi-pulse series for each mark in the above-mentioned case.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording scheme in which an optical disk medium is divided concentrically into a plurality of recording zones, the optical disk medium is rotated, and at the same time, setting of recording pulse series is changed dynamically. In this case, without performing control of variable rotational speed of the disk medium, with maintaining compatibility in recording format with conventional media, and, also, through a simple scheme, recording can be made at a uniform signal characteristic throughout the recording area of the disk medium.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording scheme by which a recording pulse series is corrected according to unevenness of disk characteristic and variation for particular recording apparatus. Thereby, aggravation of the jitter characteristic can be prevented, and stable operation of PLL for a reproduction clock signal can be attained.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording scheme by which, when recording by CAV control is made, simple setting of a recording pulse series is made for every recording line velocity, while simple correction of recording power is made so that recording for low jitter can be attained throughout the disk medium.
An information recording apparatus, according to the present invention, of performing optical recording on a recording medium with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of multi-pulse series, includes:
a detection pulse generating part (8) generating a detection pulse to replace a multi-pulse series; and
a detection power control part (29) controlling the power of the detection pulse to be smaller than the power of the multi-pulse series.
Thereby, although during recording in a manner of basically using multi-pulse series, it is possible to detect a condition of mark formation with high sensitivity, by replacing a multi-pulse series by a detection pulse.
The apparatus may further include a recording power setting part (29) setting the power of the multi-pulse series such that a ratio between the detection pulse and multi-power series may be fixed.
Thereby, the heating power is controlled for both multi-pulse series for normal recording and detection pulse for detection so as to maintain a proper mark-formation condition, and, thereby, it is possible to obtain a stable reproduction signal from a thus-recorded information with low jitter.
The ratio of power of the detection pulse to the multi-pulse series may be in a range of 0.6 and 0.9.
Thereby, it is easy to calculate the heating power for the detection pulse from the heating power for multi-pulse series.
The power control part may control the power of recording pulses by using a recording-condition information value obtained by normalizing an output value of a photodetector which receives reflected light from the recording medium during recording operation, by luminous energy currently emitted by a light-emitting device to the recording medium.
Thereby, it is possible to detect a condition of mark formation with high sensitivity even during receiving in a manner of multi-pulse series power control.
The detection pulse generating part may replace mark data of a multi-pulse series by the detection pulse.
Thereby, it is possible to maintain the jitter characteristic to a non-problematic condition without destroying original recording information.
The apparatus may further include:
a medium-type detecting part (12) detecting a type of the recording medium loaded; and
a selection part (12) selecting as to whether a single pulse or a multi-pulse series is used for forming each record mark, according to detection result of the medium-type detection part.
Thereby, by appropriately switching the heating power for the detection pulse according to the selection from among different recording manners, such as those of CD-R and DVD-R for example, it is possible to surely process the different types of recording media.
The power control part may control so that the power of the detection pulse is approximately the same as that of the recording pulse when the selection part determines that a single pulse is used for forming each record mark.
Thereby, the recording power for the detection pulse is the same as that for the normal recording pulses in the case of the manner where a single pulse is used for forming each mark, while the heating power for the detection pulse is lower than that for the normal recording pulse in the case of the manner where multi-pulse series is used for forming each mark. Thereby, it is possible to properly deal with the different types of recording medium, such as CD-R and DVD-R.
An information recording apparatus, according to another aspect of the present invention, of performing optical recording on a recording medium with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of multi-pulse series, includes:
a detection pulse generating part (108) generating a detection pulse to replace a multi-pulse series;
a trial writing part (112) performing trial writing onto a predetermined zone of the recording medium (102) by using a plurality of different powers applied in sequence; and
a detection power control part (119, 123) controlling the power of the detection pulse according to a light-reception signal obtained from record data made by the trial writing part.
Thereby, by performing trial writing, it is possible to determine the optimum (heating) power of the detection pulse.
The apparatus may further include a recording power setting part (119, 123) setting the power of the multi-pulse series according to a light-reception signal obtained from record data made by the trial writing part, but the record data is different from record data used by the detection power control part in position of the predetermined zone prepared for the trial writing.
Thereby, by performing trial writing, also the optimum heating power of the multi-pulse series can be determined.
The trial writing part may perform the trial writing in such a manner that:
power is changed stepwise for trial writing onto a first portion of the predetermined zone for a use by the detection power control part;
power is changed stepwise for trial writing onto a second portion of the predetermined zone for a use by the recording power setting part; and
the first and second portions are adjacent in position.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain the optimum heating powers of the multi-pulse series and detection pulse at high accuracy from trial writing performed using a small-sized area of the recording medium.
The trial writing part may perform the trial writing in such a manner that:
power is changed stepwise for trial writing onto first portions of the predetermined zone for a use by the detection power control part;
power is changed stepwise for trial writing onto second portions of the predetermined zone for a use by the recording power setting part; and
the first and second portions are arranged alternately one by one in position.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain the optimum heating powers of the multi-pulse series and detection pulse at high accuracy from trial writing performed using a small-sized area of the recording medium.
The trial writing part may perform trial writing in such a manner that:
trial writing is performed onto a first portion of the predetermined zone;
trial writing is performed onto a second portion of the predetermined zone;
trial writing is performed onto a third portion of the predetermined zone; and
the power to be used for the trial writing onto the third portion is adjusted based on at least a light-reception signal from the record data of the trial writing made onto one of the first and second portions.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain a target value of recording-condition information for performing R-OPC by recording with multi-pulse series, by using the detection pulse having the optimum heating power.
The trial writing part may perform trial writing in such a manner that:
multi-pulse series is used for performing trial writing onto the second and third portions of the predetermined zone; and
the thus-used multi-pulse series are replaced by the detection pulses at a predetermined frequency or all of the multi-pulse series are replaced by the detection pulses.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain both the optimum heating power of the detection pulse and the target value of recording condition for performing R-OPC by recording with the multi-pulse series, at high accuracy.
The trial writing part may perform trial writing in such a manner that:
trial writing onto the first, second and third portions is performed at a stretch.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain both the optimum heating powers of the multi-pulse series and detection pulse and the target value of recording-condition information for performing R-OPC by recording, only through a stretch of trial writing operation.
The trial writing part may perform trial writing in such a manner that:
a target value for the light-reception signal to be used for recording onto the recording medium is determined based on the actually obtained light-reception signal in performing trial writing onto the third portion of the predetermined zone.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain a target value of recording-condition information for R-OPC by recording with multi-pulse series.
At least one of the power of the detection pulse and a ratio in power between the detection pulse and multi-pulse series obtained based on the light-reception signal obtained from the trial writing may be stored as recording-condition information.
Thereby, it is possible to record onto the recording medium (optical disk) the information for R-OPC obtained through trial writing, for a use at a subsequent occasion.
An information recording apparatus, according to another aspect of the present invention, of performing optical recording onto a recording medium with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of multi-pulse series, includes:
a detection pulse generating part (108) generating a detection pulse to partially replace the multi-pulse series; and
a power control part (119, 123) controlling the powers of the detection pulse and multi-pulse series according to at least one of the powers of the detection pulse and multi-pulse series or ratio therebetween previously recorded as recording management information of the recording medium.
Thereby, by utilizing information for R-OPC operation obtained through past trial writing recorded on the recording medium, it is possible to easily perform R-OPC with high sensitivity.
A recording medium, according to the present invention, to which information can be recorded, includes recording management information recorded therein, the recording management information comprising at least one of the powers for the detection pulse and multi-pulse series or ratio therebetween previously recorded as recording management information of the recording medium.
Thereby, by utilizing information for R-OPC operation obtained through past trial writing recorded on the recording medium, it is possible to easily perform R-OPC with high sensitivity.
An information recording apparatus, according to another aspect of the present invention, of performing optical recording onto a recording medium (202) with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of multi-pulse series, includes:
a detection pulse generating part (208) generating a detection pulse to replace a multi-pulse series;
a trial writing part (212) performing trial writing onto the recording medium by using a plurality of different powers applied in sequence;
a calculating part (212) calculating modulation degrees of the recording medium for the detection pulse based on a light-reception signal obtained from record data made by the trial writing part; and
a detection power control part (219, 223) controlling the power of the detection pulse based on the thus-obtained data of modulation degrees.
Thereby, it is possible to perform output of the detection pulse with the optimum heating power, by performing the trial writing.
The detection power control part may determine the power such that the data of modulation degree obtained from the record data made by the trial writing part by the power may fall in a range between 0.5 and 0.8 as an optimum power.
Thereby, it is easy to calculate the optimum heating power of the detection pulse.
The detection power control part may control the power of the detection pulse based on a change of the modulation degree with respect to the power applied.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain the optimum heating power more accurately so as to control a change in modulation degree occurring due to an influence of surface inclination of the recording medium or the like.
The detection power control part may determine the power such that the change in modulation degree of the recording medium obtained from a light-reception signal obtained from record data made by the trial writing part with the power with respect to the power applied may fall in a range between 1.0 and 2.0 as an optimum power.
Thereby, it is easy to calculate the optimum heating power of the detection pulse.
The apparatus may further include:
a recording modulation calculation part (212) obtaining data of modulation degree of the recording medium for the multi-pulse series based on the light-reception signal; and
a recording power control part (219, 223) controlling the power of the multi-pulse series based on the thus-obtained data of modulation degrees.
Thus, by performing the trial writing, it is possible to also output multi-pulse series with the optimum heating power.
The detection power control part may determine such a power as an optimum power for the detection pulse as that resulting in the modulation degree approximately equal to the modulation degree obtained for the multi-pulse series obtained by the recording modulation calculating part.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain the optimum heating power of the detection pulse corresponding to the optimum heating power of multi-pulse series.
The detection power control part may obtain a change in modulation degree of the recording medium obtained by the calculation part with respect to the power applied;
the recording power control part may obtain a change in modulation degree of the recording medium obtained by the recording modulation calculation part with respect to the power applied; and
the detection power control part may determine such a power as an optimum power for the detection pulse as that resulting in the change of modulation degree with respect to the power applied approximately equal to the change of modulation degree obtained for the multi-pulse series obtained by the recording modulation calculating part with respect to the power applied.
Thereby, it is possible to obtain the optimum heating power of the detection pulse corresponding to the optimum heating power of multi-pulse series, at higher accuracy.
The recording power control part may control the power of the multi-pulse series so that a ratio thereof to the power of the detection pulse controlled by the detection power control part may fall in a predetermined fixed value.
Thereby, even during recording onto the recording medium, the respective heating powers of multi-pulse series and detection pulse can be made as optimum values.
The recording power control part may control the power of the multi-pulse series so that a ratio in power of an optimum value for the multi-pulse series obtained thereby to an optimum value for the detection pulse obtained by the detection power control part may fall in the predetermined fixed value.
Thereby, even during recording onto the recording medium, the respective heating powers of multi-pulse series and detection pulse can be made to be optimum values.
An information recording method, according to the present invention, of performing optical recording onto a recording medium (202) with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of multi-pulse series, includes the steps of:
a) generating a detection pulse to replace a multi-pulse series;
b) performing trial writing onto the recording medium by using a plurality of different powers applied in sequence;
c) calculating modulation degrees of the recording medium for the detection pulse based on a light-reception signal obtained from record data made by the step b); and
d) controlling the power of the detection pulse based on the thus-obtained data of modulation degrees.
An information recording apparatus, according to another aspect of the present invention, of performing optical recording onto a recording medium (401) with a record mark by using a light beam modulated in a manner of recording pulse series, comprising:
a clock frequency change part (411) changing a recording clock frequency according to a recording line velocity so as to make a recording line density uniform; and
a recording power calculating part (414) calculating a recording power in accordance with the change in recording line velocity by using an approximation formula,
wherein:
a recording area of the recording medium (401) is concentrically divided into a plurality of recording zones;
an end portion of record data recorded on a recording zone of the plurality of recording zones is reproduced;
from a signal characteristic obtained from a thus-obtained reproduction signal, the approximation formula is corrected so that an ideal signal characteristic may be obtained; and
the thus-corrected approximation formula is used for determining the recording power for recording onto a subsequent recording zone.
Thereby, even when the recording line velocity changes by CAV control such that the disk rotation speed may be fixed, and, thus, the optimum condition on recording is shifted from the setting values, it is possible to perform correction such that the optimum recording pulses can be provided for each recording line velocity. Thereby, it is possible to perform recording throughout the optical disk with uniform characteristics. Especially in case where the disk medium is divided concentrically into a plurality of recording zones in accordance with data amounts to be recorded, recording is made on a recording zone after performing correction on recording power made based on a result of reproduction of record data recorded on a preceding recording zone. Thereby, it is possible to perform recording throughout the disk medium with uniform characteristics regardless of whether or not the recording operation is interrupted and resumed.
Trial writing may be performed onto the recording medium for at least one of the minimum recording line velocity and maximum recording line velocity with plurality of recording powers;
the optimum recording power may then be calculated from signal characteristics obtained from thus-obtained reproduction signal;
the optimum recording powers for both the minimum and maximum recording line velocities obtained from either the trial writing or disk information previously recorded onto the recording medium may be used, and thus, a first approximation formula for obtaining the recording power in accordance with change in the recording line velocity may be calculated;
the first approximation formula may then be used for recording onto a most inner recording zone of the recording medium; and
an end portion of record data thus recorded on the most inner recording zone of the plurality of recording zones may then be reproduced;
from a signal characteristic obtained from a thus-obtained reproduction signal, the first approximation formula may be corrected so that an ideal signal characteristic may be obtained; and
the thus-corrected approximation formulas may be used for determining the recording power for recording onto subsequent recording zones.
Thus, the approximation formulas for the respective recording zones can be calculated, and thereby, appropriate correction can be made for the respective recording zones. Especially, even when the recording power changes due to unevenness of sensitivity across the disk medium, temperature characteristic, mechanical shift and so fourth, it is possible to appropriately eliminate the thus-occurring difference from the optimum recording power. Thus, it is possible to perform recording throughout the disk medium in a satisfactory condition. Further, the modulated data can be recorded across boundaries between the receiving zones continuously.
The recording medium may be a pigment-type recording medium employing a pigment material as a recording layer thereof.
Accordingly, in case recording is made for each of divided recording zones onto a so-called write-once type optical disk medium, it is possible to perform recording with characteristics uniform throughout the disk medium.
The recording medium may be a phase-change-type recording medium employing a phase-change material as a recording layer thereof.
Accordingly, in case recording is made for each of divided recording zones onto a so-called erasable type optical dusk medium, it is possible to perform recording with characteristics uniform throughout the disk medium.
Modulation or asymmetry may be calculated from the reproduction signal and is used to correct the approximation formula.
Thereby, even when the recording line velocity changes by CAV control such that-the disk rotation speed may be fixed, and, thus, the optimum condition on recording is shifted from the setting values, it is possible to perform correction such that the optimum recording pulses can be provided for each recording line velocity. Thereby, it is possible to perform recording throughout the optical disk with uniform characteristics. Especially in case where the disk medium is divided concentrically into a plurality of recording zones in accordance with data amounts to be recorded, recording is made on a recording zone after performing correction on recording power made based on a result of reproduction of record data recorded on a preceding recording zone. Thereby, it is possible to perform recording throughout the disk medium with uniform characteristics regardless of whether or not the recording operation is interrupted and resumed. Especially, it is possible to attain recording according to CAV control with a simple and small-sized circuit configuration.
An information processing apparatus according to the present invention may have the above-described information recording apparatus.
Thereby, in case a lot of data is recorded on the optical disk medium, the optical disk medium may be divided concentrically into a plurality of recording zones in consideration of difference between the data transfer rate from the information processing apparatus body to the information recording apparatus and the data recording rate of the information recording apparatus itself, and thus, control should be made such that recording operation is interrupted and resumed across a boundary between different recording zones. Even in such a case, throughout all over the optical disk medium, recording with uniform signal characteristic can be performed, and, thus, the information recording apparatus can be effectively used together with the information processing apparatus such as a personal computer.